Cigar-lighter.



M. MQANENY.

CIGAR LIGHTER.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 11, 1913.

1,103,307. Patented July 14, 1914.

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J2 $63mnnlllmgll J5 J1 Ik" i MICHAEL MOANENY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR T0 I'IANDILITE MANUFAC- TURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MISSOURI.

GIGARFLIGHTER To all whom it may concern:

' Be it knownthat 1, MICHAEL MQANENY, a citizen of the United States, and resident of StrLouis, State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Cigar-Lighters, and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

The object of my invent-ion is to provide a self-contained flame-producing device especially'adapted for cigar lighting of the type havinga spark-producing mechanism in the form of'a rotary abrading disk and a body of pyrophorous alloy, or other sparkproducingme dium, which will be of simple and compact construction so that it will take up but little room and will be certain in its action, and to this end my invention consists in the lighter constructed substantially as hereinafter specified and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings-Figure 1 is a perspective view of a cigar lighter embodyingmy invention; Fig. 2 a side elevation thereof; Fig. 3 a view partly in elevation and partly in vertical section; Fig. 4 adetail view in perspective of a portion of the mechanism for producing the spark.-

In theformfin which my invention is shown as embodied, the body 10 is preferably of cylindrical form and hollow to form a receptacle for some readily inflammable fluid, such as alcohol, or gasol'ene, and which atits top has a wick tube 11 through which passes the wick 12 that leads from within the box 10. The box 10 may be mountedupon any desired form or support, such for example, as a circular tray or disk which renders it convenient for use on the tables of cafes, or it may be attached to a small bracket in a stationary position upon cigar stand counters.- Contiguous to the wick tube *is' an igniting-spark producing device in the form of an ab-rading wheel or disk and aplugof pyrophorous alloy that bears against the edge of the disk so that by turning the latter sparks will be produced and projected over the exposed top of the widk. The disk or wheel.13 is mounted loose on the upper end of a vertical shaft Specificationof Letters Patent.

Application filed October 11, 1913.

Patented aai it, ioia. Serial No. 7%,641. r i

14 which is journaled in a bracket 15 upon one side of the box 10, and upon its underside said disk has ratchet teeth 16 adapted to be engaged by, ratchet teeth 17 on a collar 18 slidably and ,rotatably fastened to the shaft 14'by a pin 19,which passes diametrically through the shaft and at its ends engages vertical-slots'20- in the collar. A spring 21 is placed around, the shaft between the underside of the collar and the top of the bracket that yieldingly holds the ratchet teeth in engagement. and permits the teeth to slip past each other when the: shaft turns in one direction, so as not to revolve the disk, while compelling their engagement when the shaft turns in the opposite'direction and causing the disk to'turn. Thus, sparks are produced only when the shaft turns in one direction which is the one required to throw sparks over the wick, and there is no needless production of sparks and waste of the alloy.

On the shaft 14, just below the top of the bracket 15 is fixed a, collar 22 from which projects a radial arm 23 that is slotted or bifurcated to form two oppositely positioned fingers 24 between which fingers is situated the upper end of an -elastic or spring blade or strip 25 which is attached to and projects from an operating lever 26 which is pivoted upon a horizontal shaft 27 supported between lugs 28 projecting from the side of the box or body l0.' .It will be seen that if the shaft 14 is restrained from rotation and the operating lever is pressed inward toward the lamp body the elastic blade or spring plate'will be bowed and placedunder tensionbetween the lever pivot and the shaft fingers between which the upper end of said blade lies and, upon the release of the shaft 14 said springblade. will react and quickly and forcibly byits action upon the finger carrying arm 23 will rotate the shaft 14: in the direction to cause the turning of the abrading disk for the production 'of a spark. For preventing the rotation of the shaft 14:, until the desired tension is produced by the bowing or flexing of the spring and then automatically to releasethe shaft, the latter ment like tooth 30 on a lever 31 pivoted to the side of the lamp body and lying alongside of the operating lever 26, but situated sufficiently nearer to the side of the lamp body to prevent its being engaged by the hand of the user when applied to the operating lever 26 until the operating lever has been pressed toward the lamp body sufliciently far to produce the des1red tens1on upon the spring blade, whereupon said looking tooth carrying lever 31 wlll be moved 1nward toward the lamp body to carry the tooth out of the path of the radial pm 29 on the shaft and thereby free, the shaft for the action of the spring blade. The tooth-car-' rying lever is normally and yieldlngly held so .that the tooth is in osition to engage the radial pin on the sha t by some suitable spring device, such for example, as that shown in the drawings which consists of a coil spring 32 in a housing on the s de of the lever which bears at one end against a pin 33 that at its other end bears agalnst the outer side of the lamp body. The operatlng lever and the spring blade carried thereby are moved in the reverse direction to that for placing the spring'blade under tension by means of a spring 34 secured at one end between the lugs to which the lever is pivoted and at its other and outer end bearing against the inner side of the lever. It Wlll be seen that the reversal of the lever serves to restore the shaft 14: to the position from which it is turned by. the reaction of the spring blade and the position where it is latched by the engagement of the tooth 30 of the latch lever 31 with the radial pm 29 on the shaft. The spring blade is also the m- -strumentality for operating the snufier to extinguish the light. The snuffer consistsof a hood 35 pivoted to one side of the w1ck tube, and having a curved slotted crank arm 36 into the slot of which projects a pm or stud'37 on the spring blade so that when the latter moves to cause tension to be placed upon it in order to produce the spark, the hood will be swung from over. the w1ck to' expose the latter to the spark while when the spring blade is moved in the reverse di-.

rection by the action of the spring 32 when the operating lever 26 is released the hood is automatically swung over the wick and snufi's out'the light. It will be seenthat so long as the operating lever is restrained by the grasp of the hand the light will continue to burn because the snufling hood is maintained in a position at one side of the light It will be seen that although I have two levers, one of-whi ch places the spring under tension and the other acts to release the abrading disk operating shaft when the desired tension of the spring is secured, that the relative position of the two levers is such that in graspingthe lighter to produce the light both levers are certain to be actuated.

The plug of pyrophorous or other sparkproducing medium, is'mounted in a horizontal tube 39 carried by an arm fixed to the wick tube with one end contiguous to the disk periphery and its other end closed by a screw cap 40 between which and the outer end of the plug is a coiled spring' ll by which a gentle pressure is maintained onthe plug to eep it in proper engagement with the abrading disk. The cap 40 provides adjustment to compensate for the natural wear of the plug.

With my lighter the movement of the snufler is so timed that it does not uncover the wick until the spark is tobe produced so that any gas or vapor accumulating under the snuffer is retained for the reception of the spark; the abrading wheel is always .exposed to the air so that it cannot become damp as is possible where such wheel is covered or housed; and the vertical position of the wheel shaft or its parallelism with the wick tube is very advantageous because the wick and wheel can be placed veryclose to? gether and thus make it certain that the spark will be thrown to the wick.

It will be understood that departure may be made from the form and construction of the members of my lighter without departing from the scope .of my invention, and I, therefore, do not restrict myself only to the lighter having the form and construction of parts shown in the drawings.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is 1. 'A lighter comprising a spark-producing mechanism consisting of relatively stationary and movable members and a rotatable shaft for moving the movable member, a spring connected with the movable member, an operating handle for placing the spring under tension, and releasable means havlng an operating handle acting to prevent movement of the movable member shaft for the disk having a radial arm, a

spring blade engaging said arm' to rotate the shaft in either direction, a lever carrying said blade, and a releasable latch device to prevent rotation of the shaft.

4. A lighter comprisin spark-producing mechanism including a isk, an operating shaft for the disk havin a radial arm, a i In testimony that I claim the foregoing I spring blade engaging sai arm to rotate the have hereunto set my hand. a

shaft in either dlrection, a lever carrying said blade, a releasable latch device to pre .5 vent rotation of the shaft, a snuffer, and

connections between the snuflt'er and the spring blade. 7

MICHAEL MGANENY.

Witnesses:

WM. SACKS, BEN Pmmrson. 

